Kings Cross

On All Fools' Day, back to Kings Place for a morning concert, the first time I have been there since about this time in 2020, shortly before the first big lockdown. Robin Bigwood giving us three Bach partitas for keyboard: 2, 5 and 6 otherwise BWV 826, BWV 829 and BWV 830. As it turned out, a day for BH to entertain her grand-daughters while I was out. She managed!

Once again, I thought about cycling up from Waterloo, which I have done in the past, and once again decided against. With one excuse being that the stand just outside might be closed or full, when in the event it was open and more than half empty.

Heavy rain the night before, and the drains in a house on the uphill side of the school end of the road backed up. All rather unpleasant. Being hosed down when I passed at around 09:40.

The temporary roof over the dormer bungalow in Meadway was going up when I passed. Going to be a bit of a monster when it is all finished. Will the added resale value cover what must be the considerable costs, which must be hundreds of thousands? 

Indigent present at the station. As was a Waitrose trolley, rather full of wet plastic bags. Passed on this occasion.

My Epsom Travelcard failed on exit at King's Cross, but luckily there was an attendant to let me through. Something which seems to happen quite often. And it continued to fail for the rest of the day, but the attendants continued to be present too.

Plenty of spaces hidden behind the van in this new-to-me stand at the north end of the Kings Cross station precinct. One wonders what the old building behind was? Is it under a heritage preservation order?

An unfinished building, also at the north end. A building which was fairly underway at the time of our last visit - very likely the cranes featured at reference 2, just about four years ago. Perhaps there has been some difficulty with money.

Inside, the do not climb-on-the-art beetle was still there.

Back upstairs to take my sandwiches, brought from Epsom on this occasion. Or to be more precise, my bread and cheese. Arty view into the upper regions.

Only the one of its kind that I could find in the floor.

Hall about a third full, with some of those dropping out at half time. I recall the violin partitas by the same chap pulling rather more people; perhaps partly because the violin is often played by a lady and partly because the violin partitas are more obviously difficult to play.

I liked Bigwood's notes (snapped above), his modest stage presence and his restraint with the keys. He didn't bother with the flamboyance offered by some of his colleagues in music.

But his instrument was flamboyant, I think he said an Edinburgh made copy of a German instrument. Two manuals, the odd stop and a computer with the score. However, while Bing could turn up lots of people making harpsichords, there was no-one filling the present bill - but I was rather taken with Keith Hill of Tennessee, to be found at reference 4.

Out to catch a food delivery person cycling the wrong way down York Way. And the other side of the building snapped earlier, showing an impressive array of cranes from this side. Will the finished building be as impressive?

King's Cross and surrounds busy by 13:15. Impressed, once again, by the long walk, maybe as much as a kilometre from pavement to platform. They ought to have warning signs for older people - and others - for whom a walk of that sort might be a pain.

On the tube, a designer, not-so-young blonde with two young children and a faint scar running up and back from the corner of her left eye. Didn't get to see the other one, but I did wonder about cosmetic surgery.

On the platform at Vauxhall, a couple of young people practising their dance routine to a telephone propped up against a lamp post. They looked like they would be pretty good by the time that they had finished.

Couple of copies of the 'New Yorker' from the platform library at Raynes Park, a magazine which my mother used to take - a memento of her days at Columbia of reference 6, a place where she had been rather taken aback to find them using multiple choice questions in some of their examinations. Possibly teacher training, but certainly not science or technology. 

I remember the magazines as being quite a lot fatter, but in any case interesting, not quite like anything that I know from this country. A mixture of articles about public affairs and articles about what seemed like rather fringe culture. But all quite serious. And, quite incidentally, I came away thinking that Gwyneth Paltrow was a very odd bird indeed, albeit one with a very good eye for the main chance. See reference 8.

Out at Epsom to have a taxi clock up more than 5 guineas before we escaped from the station precincts, through the two set of lights involved. Which reminds me that I was talking about guineas the other day, and while I could remember that there was an African connection, I could not remember what it was. Answer at reference 4 and possibly also in the book noticed at reference 5.

Later on I cracked open my Archiv Produktion version of the partitas, not used for many a year. Ralph Kirkpatrick, according to reference 7, probably from the 1950's. I found them rather loud & heavy in this version, but no idea whether that is the old recording or the fashion in harpsichords at that time. On the other hand, the sleeve was an elaborate pale yellow affair, involving stitching to hold the polythene lined sleeve proper together. Just what one would expect from a serious German company.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/03/kings-cross.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/04/kings-cross.html.

Reference 3: https://keithhillharpsichords.com/.

Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea_(coin).

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/04/out-of-africa.html.

Reference 6: https://www.columbia.edu/.

Reference 7: https://library.bu.edu/c.php?g=268287&p=1790249.

Reference 8: https://goop.com/.